Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Shah affirmed that CAA, passed by the Parliament in December 2019, is a national law and will be enforced accordingly. He emphasised that there should be no confusion regarding the implementation of CAA, stating that it will be implemented before the elections. The announcement comes amid ongoing debates and discussions surrounding the contentious citizenship law.
“CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” Shah said.
He said in categorical terms that CAA was brought in to provide citizenship and not to take away anyone’s citizenship.
“Minorities in our country, and specially our Muslim community, are being provoked. CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan.”
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Following the passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019 and its subsequent presidential assent, significant protests erupted in various parts of the country.
Speaking about the upcoming Lok Sabha polls the home minister said that this election was about corruption against development.
“This election is not about I.N.D.I.Alliance vs NDA. This is about corrupt governance vs. zero tolerance against corruption. This election is about those who want to secure national security vs. those who, in the name of foreign policy, endanger national security” the Union Home Minister said.
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